Gator Bowl Bound
November 30, 2003 04:23 PM | General
November 30, 2003
JACKSONVILLE - Bob White, Chairman of the Gator Bowl Association and President of Compass Bank, formally extended an invitation today to West Virginia University to play the University of Maryland in the January 1, 2004 Toyota Gator Bowl.
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| Rasheed Marshall celebrates West Virginia's win over Temple Saturday and the Mountaineers' invitation to the Gator Bowl(All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
The West Virginia Mountaineers will be making their 4th appearance in the Gator Bowl Classic where their record is 0-3-0. Their first appearance was on December 30, 1982 against Florida State (31-12); followed by largest attended game in Gator Bowl history, Clemson vs. West Virginia, on December 30, 1989 (27-7) and their last appearance on January 1, 1997 against North Carolina (20-13).
WVU owns part of the Big East title for the first time since 1993, when the Mountaineers won the first-ever league round-robin championship outright with a 7-0 record.
West Virginia's 28-7 victory over Virginia Tech set the Mountaineers up for another late-season run. The Mountaineers improved to 6-1 in the conference, earning a share of the BIG EAST title, with their 45-28 win over Temple; WVU is now 8-4 overall after starting the season at 1-4. With its win over Temple, West Virginia improves to 12-2 in the BIG EAST conference over the last two seasons.
Top players are All-America linebacker Grant Wiley(finalist for Bronko Nagurski Award) and running back Quincy Wilson, one of 8 finalists for the Doak Walker Award.
WVU's 45-28 victory over Temple extended the Mountaineer winning streak to seven games, the most consecutive games won in a row by the Mountaineers since WVU opened the 1996 season 7-0.
This is Coach Rich Rodriguez' third year at WVU, where his record is 20-16 (3-8, 9-4, 8-4).
The Mountaineers will meet the University of Maryland Terrapins who finished their regular season with a win over Wake Forest giving them an overall regular season record of 9-3. After opening 0-2, Maryland won 9 of their last 10 games and finished second to Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference. This will also be the Terrapins 4th appearance in the Gator Bowl Classic last appearing in 1975 with a victory of the University of Florida 13-0.
"The Gator Bowl is excited to have two of the hottest teams in college football. This matchup should insure the Gator Bowl's third straight sellout," said Gator Bowl President Rick Catlett.
The 59th Annual Toyota Gator Bowl featuring these two teams will be played on January 1, 2004 and will be televised on NBC.
